THE AFTER-DINNER MYSTERIES DVD (2013)

SYNOPSIS: Reiko Hosho (Keiko Kitagawa), the Hosho conglomerate heiress, and her butler Kageyama (Sho Sakurai), board the Singapore-bound The Princess Reiko, a luxury cruise ship owned by the Hoshos. It is Reiko’s first time in 18 years to embark this ship that is like a small town in itself, complete with restaurants, casino, spa, and movie theatre. Reiko looks forward to her long-deserved vacation, but an odd dead body is discovered onboard. Seven days until their arrival in Singapore. The murderer, hiding among 3,000 passengers and crewmembers, must be apprehended. Soon, Kageyama realizes that the victims have something in common, but among the turmoil, Reiko is kidnapped…

MOVIE REVIEW:

For those who are not familiar with the adventures of beautiful heiress Reiko and her trusty butler, Kageyama, fret not, the Japanese filmmakers behind the movie version have taken great care not to alienate this group of audiences. Cue in cute cartoons and dialogue bubbles.

The After Dinner Mysteries partially shot in Singapore and onboard the luxurious Superstar Virgo is the typical Japanese detective drama mixed with comedic elements to spice things a little. This is not to say the flick is a letdown, it’s just pretty predictable when it comes to solving the mystery. The most obvious suspect is not the one and the culprit always has a far bigger sad story to tell in the end.  

Reiko who also works as a cop is on vacation on her family cruise ship with her butler in tow of course. A rich businessman named Raymond Yeow is found murdered and thrown overboard. Reiko and her self-assuming superior Kazamatsuriare tasked to solve the case. Threatening to kill another passenger if the ship stops at a port, Reiko must find the killer among the 3000 passengers before tragedy strikes again. 

The first half of the movie is peppered with sometimes-cheesy comedic antics and a slew of characters, which is not surprising since this is a mystery drama after all. You need all the people in the world to mess up your attention. But again it’s the chemistry between Keiko Kitagawa and Sho Sakurai (from the popular boyband Arashi) that keeps the story going with their believable bantering and often-sarcastic exchanges.  

Takenaka Naoto (Shinjuku Incident) and Okura Koji contributes to all the silly fun by portraying a pair of fumbling crooks who are after a treasure piece called K Lion. Then there is the side plot, which involves the ship manager and his lounge singer daughter. In addition, there’s supposedly the involvement of the world’s renowned super thief dubbed the Phantom Soros presented in zesty animated form.

First time feature director Masato Hijikata knows how to keep the pacing lively and to differentiate between this and the drama series throws in generous shots of the cruise ship milking all it’s worth with some obvious elaborate set designs and visual effects in-between. While the material is not in the league of the great Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, The After Dinner Mysteries is still an entertaining title that will please fans of the series and of course supporters of Sho Sakurai.   

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DVD comes with burned-in English subs with Chinese as an optional choice. It also comes with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that feature some fanciful surround ambient effects. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee